by Mexico City – Leonidas Otlica Reyes is suffering from the drought that has occurred in Río Frío de Juárez, a town located in the state of Mexico, where the rainfall has decreased for a year until the streams have become sloshing puddles that cross the ground par. .
“Right now we have a big problem because of the lack of rain. There is no water. The shortage is too much,” said Otlica Reyes, a 46-year-old server who has been part of the Río Frío Conservation Group since 2016. , an association focused on environmental protection.
For Otlica Reyes, the most worrying thing is not only the serious effects of the scarce rain on the area’s crops, but also the threat that goes beyond the volcanic axolotl (Ambystoma leorae), a critically endangered amphibian. It gets its name from its habitat near the Telapón and Tláloc volcanoes, in the mountainous enclave known as the Sierra Nevada, east of Mexico City. In that area are the streams of Tula and Río Frío, and those are the only places where this species of axolotl develops.
“We have never felt this heat, and we have never seen this drought,” said Otlica Reyes dejectedly in an interview with Noticias Telemundo. “There is no river precipitation. We don’t have any of that and right now that’s our biggest danger to the axolotls.”
Axolotls belong to the genus Ambystoma and they are a species of neotenic salamander, which means that these animals retain some juvenile characteristics throughout their reproductive life.
Felipe Osuna López, academic at the Colegio de la Frontera Sur and member of the Río Frío Conservation Group, said that axolotls are of great importance in the ecosystem because they are the main predator in the streams and help to maintain the biological balance in the area. .
“They are a biomarker par excellence; they keep the invertebrate population intact and thereby contribute to the maintenance of water quality,” explained Osuna López. “If the axolotls are good, it means that the water bodies are in good condition and guarantee the water supply for thousands of people in neighboring communities.”
Axolotls live in rivers and streams, so the characteristics of these habitats determined their evolution. Because of this they are very vulnerable to changes in these bodies of water, said Osuna López. This has caused a significant decrease in their population from factors related to the modification of their habitat, such as river pollution, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico.
Osuna López together with Otlica Reyes and others launched a fundraising campaign to save the axolotls that are weakening and dying in the water body of the area. According to their estimates, there are less than 200 specimens of this species left in the streams of the area.
“For the first time, in this dry season, the water stopped flowing in the Tula stream and became stagnant, so the axolotls managed to survive,” said Osuna López. “Fortunately, we were able to detect it in time and took on the task of relocating the axolotls to areas with better conditions.”
The axolotl population had increased, according to Osuna López. “The bad thing is that in Tula, where we had the largest population, the lack of monitoring and presence meant that these climate attacks were not detected in time and the population was reduced,” he said.
The latest figures from the National Water Commission (Conagua) show that lack of rain is a national problem: 67.97% of the Mexican territory shows moderate to exceptional drought, which affects ecosystems and has generated a 60% increase in forest fires.
In the case of the axolotls of the volcano, the campaign launched by the Río Frío Conservation Group seeks to raise 65,000 Mexican pesos (about $3,900) for monitoring work, water body maintenance and educational campaigns with the public, among other activities.
“This is a reactive strategy to overcome this dry season and help the axolotls. We are relocating them, we are monitoring them and maintaining the levels of the pools so that they have the conditions to survive,” said Osuna López. “In the medium term we need to restore these streams, as much as possible, so they can hold more water.”
‘Part of our identity’
The Mexican axolotl has great importance in the country’s culture dating back to pre-Hispanic times. The Aztecs viewed the axolotl as a representation of Xolotl, the deity associated with death and transformation.
“The axolotl first appears in pre-Hispanic codices and is associated with Aztec deities. The axolotl was the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl and this is how it is depicted in mythology. From a cultural point of view, this amphibian is part of our identity,” said Diana Vázquez Mendoza, a researcher at the Laboratory of Ecological Restoration at the Institute of Biology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The genus Ambystoma made up of 33 species spread across North America, from southwestern Alaska and southern Canada to the Mexican Highlands. According to data from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, in the case of Mexico, 17 species are distributed in the northeast and center of the country.
Of that total, 16 of them are endemic, as in the case of specimens Ambystoma leorae, better known as the volcano axolotl, and the Ambystoma Mexico, which are the best known axolotls and are found in Xochimilco, an area south of Mexico City famous for its network of canals that surround agricultural plots called chinampas.
The volcano axolotl species is much smaller than, for example, the Xochimilco axolotl, according to Osuna López. “Our species averages about 15 centimeters from snout to tail. And it presents a great morphological diversity. We have grey, black, brown, yellow. We had greens, even with reddish tones, but unfortunately they have already been lost,” he said.
Vázquez Mendoza said that axolotls are very sensitive animals, because they are amphibians, “which are very sensitive to environmental changes because of the type of skin they have and their morphology. And it is clear that there is a problem of climate change that affects ecosystems at a local level.”
The researcher explained that the Xochimilco axolotls are also at risk due to the urbanization of areas near their habitats, changes in environmental conditions, and the pollution of canals and other wet areas where the species develops.
For Otlica Reyes, what happens to the axolotls is not an isolated incident, he said with concern. Communities must always be aware so they can mobilize and protect their local flora and fauna.
“It is not a problem for the axolotls, but for the whole community, both humans and other living beings,” he said. “We all need water, but right now the axolotls are missing it a lot.”
An earlier version of this story was first published in Notiias Telemundo.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
